The Chief spotted a mouse zipping through the living room a few days ago. Since mice never seem to travel without their extended families, we're readying for battle. The first step was to take all the fruit & bread we usually leave out and stash it all in the fridge.
The Chief bought 10 mouse traps, baited them with peanut butter and set them all over the place, though we have yet to catch anything. This afternoon he looked in the cabinet under the sink for a clean dishtowel and realized where the little critters have been nesting. I've now got a load of dishtowels in the washer, which is set on "scald the living daylights outta these things to get rid of the mouse mess!" Once they're clean, those dishtowels are going into a sealed bin until we can be sure we've managed to evict the filthy little interlopers. If I weren't allergic, we could get a cat to help with our little problem.
We've been through this before out at the cabin, and I had to deal w/ a mouse infestation when I lived in England. Hardly my favorite homeowner's headache, but neither am I about to jump up on furniture and start shrieking if I see one of the little beasties.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
County fair
The Chief and I went to a county fair today; his first and my first in 20+ years. Not too hot for August, and relatively low humidity, so we didn't kill ourselves walking around looking at everything.
The Chief enjoyed the animals (we wandered thru the sheep barn as feeding time was approaching; all the sheep seemed to be saying something like "c'mon, where's lunch?!?"), but what he enjoyed best was watching all the little kids. The stroller brigade seemed to be out in force - flocks and throngs of toddlers, young children, even babies, all of them utterly fascinated by just about everything.
One vendor had a lot of John Deere equipment displayed, most of it available for kids to climb on. They even had a combine they'd converted to a slide - climb the ladder into the cab, then slide down the "chute". That one was very popular! They also had a corral full of JD toys for kids to play with, as well as a gift shop with all kinds of JD-logo items, mostly toys for future customers. The whole area was swarming with kids and parents with cameras. I asked the Chief if he wanted me to take his picture sitting in the cab of one machine or another, but he declined. ;)
The livestock barns all had empty spaces, even those barns where exhibitors had set up a space to hang out in the shade. I wonder how long it's been since every single one of those spaces was needed for livestock...?
We also strolled through the 4-H exhibit halls and looked at the winning entries in all kinds of categories. There was one for sewing by children (I didn't see ages displayed). One girl had done quite well - she had a 2-piece outfit that had won a blue ribbon, and a fairly intricate dress (not elaborate, but a lot of assembly and she'd added some nice, subtle touches) that had won a Reserve Champion award.
We stopped by a produce stand on our way out and bought about 12 lbs. of tomatoes. What on earth am I gonna do with all those tomatoes? Why, make marinara sauce, of course, using my fresh basil, rosemary & oregano. I just have to peel all these darn tomatoes first; that'll take a while, so making the sauce itself may have to wait until tomorrow. Our house is gonna smell SOOOOOOO good while it's simmering!
Our county's fair is coming up in a few weeks; walking through this one has me seriously considering entering something in one of the cooking categories. Probably not the marinara sauce - this will be my very first batch; I haven't had time to play with it and get it where I want it. If I decide to take the plunge, it'll probably be some tried-and-true recipe that doesn't need refrigeration.
The Chief enjoyed the animals (we wandered thru the sheep barn as feeding time was approaching; all the sheep seemed to be saying something like "c'mon, where's lunch?!?"), but what he enjoyed best was watching all the little kids. The stroller brigade seemed to be out in force - flocks and throngs of toddlers, young children, even babies, all of them utterly fascinated by just about everything.
One vendor had a lot of John Deere equipment displayed, most of it available for kids to climb on. They even had a combine they'd converted to a slide - climb the ladder into the cab, then slide down the "chute". That one was very popular! They also had a corral full of JD toys for kids to play with, as well as a gift shop with all kinds of JD-logo items, mostly toys for future customers. The whole area was swarming with kids and parents with cameras. I asked the Chief if he wanted me to take his picture sitting in the cab of one machine or another, but he declined. ;)
The livestock barns all had empty spaces, even those barns where exhibitors had set up a space to hang out in the shade. I wonder how long it's been since every single one of those spaces was needed for livestock...?
We also strolled through the 4-H exhibit halls and looked at the winning entries in all kinds of categories. There was one for sewing by children (I didn't see ages displayed). One girl had done quite well - she had a 2-piece outfit that had won a blue ribbon, and a fairly intricate dress (not elaborate, but a lot of assembly and she'd added some nice, subtle touches) that had won a Reserve Champion award.
We stopped by a produce stand on our way out and bought about 12 lbs. of tomatoes. What on earth am I gonna do with all those tomatoes? Why, make marinara sauce, of course, using my fresh basil, rosemary & oregano. I just have to peel all these darn tomatoes first; that'll take a while, so making the sauce itself may have to wait until tomorrow. Our house is gonna smell SOOOOOOO good while it's simmering!
Our county's fair is coming up in a few weeks; walking through this one has me seriously considering entering something in one of the cooking categories. Probably not the marinara sauce - this will be my very first batch; I haven't had time to play with it and get it where I want it. If I decide to take the plunge, it'll probably be some tried-and-true recipe that doesn't need refrigeration.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Finally getting caught up
My, but we've had a busy month or so! The Chief & I were at the cabin over the 4th of July weekend and hosted several visitors for parts of it, as well as having some fellow part-timers join us for dinner. We loved having so much company, and our guests seemed to have a good time too.
Then came the marathon:
L&K converged on the cabin the 3rd week of July; first time the three of us had been together for more than a flying visit since K moved away several years ago. It was lovely to have so much time to chat, even if we did have to wait until K's two girls (ages 7 and "10 slash 11") were in bed. The heat set records, and the portable a/c unit could barely keep up (got the temp down to 85 and the humidity down to about 55%), so we weren't terribly active, but that wasn't really the point.
They left on a Saturday; the next day, my sister3 and family arrived at the house so they could do the usual tourist things. I had to work and the Chief ended up leaving Tuesday to go to the dentist, then continue west, but I did get to see them briefly when they came back at the end of a day, hungry, tired, sweaty, and dehydrated from walking all over town in triple-digit heat. They ended up leaving a bit early so they could stop at a Civil War site on the way home. That gave me a whole day between their departure and my own departure to join the Chief (who had driven) in the Midwest for a week.
We spent the week hanging out with family; stayed with mom's sister & her husband, had dinners with different siblings and at Dad's place, hosted those who could join us for a lovely seafood lunch, went swimming w/ several of us, including my 2 little nieces, and generally had a nice, relaxed time. Hard to believe we were there a whole week - seemed like we'd barely opened our suitcases when it was time to go home again.
I got back Friday afternoon, went home from the airport by way of the commissary, was home for all of about 3 hours before heading back out to the cabin. Saturday was the annual block party out there - couldn't miss that! The Chief was still on the road and couldn't make it, but I did save him a piece of the peach cobbler that one person had brought.
We were back out at the cabin last weekend, where friends joined us. This time the highs were only in the 80s and the humidity was low, at least for August, so we had a very nice time indeed. The Chief had to stay and accompany the window installers while I played tour guide for our friends, but we didn't leave him alone all that long. In fact, we managed to time our return so that we got back barely half an hour after the installers left.
Here we'd been trying for years to get people to visit us and they all arrived practically at once! That's OK, though; we're glad they made it.
Then came the marathon:
L&K converged on the cabin the 3rd week of July; first time the three of us had been together for more than a flying visit since K moved away several years ago. It was lovely to have so much time to chat, even if we did have to wait until K's two girls (ages 7 and "10 slash 11") were in bed. The heat set records, and the portable a/c unit could barely keep up (got the temp down to 85 and the humidity down to about 55%), so we weren't terribly active, but that wasn't really the point.
They left on a Saturday; the next day, my sister3 and family arrived at the house so they could do the usual tourist things. I had to work and the Chief ended up leaving Tuesday to go to the dentist, then continue west, but I did get to see them briefly when they came back at the end of a day, hungry, tired, sweaty, and dehydrated from walking all over town in triple-digit heat. They ended up leaving a bit early so they could stop at a Civil War site on the way home. That gave me a whole day between their departure and my own departure to join the Chief (who had driven) in the Midwest for a week.
We spent the week hanging out with family; stayed with mom's sister & her husband, had dinners with different siblings and at Dad's place, hosted those who could join us for a lovely seafood lunch, went swimming w/ several of us, including my 2 little nieces, and generally had a nice, relaxed time. Hard to believe we were there a whole week - seemed like we'd barely opened our suitcases when it was time to go home again.
I got back Friday afternoon, went home from the airport by way of the commissary, was home for all of about 3 hours before heading back out to the cabin. Saturday was the annual block party out there - couldn't miss that! The Chief was still on the road and couldn't make it, but I did save him a piece of the peach cobbler that one person had brought.
We were back out at the cabin last weekend, where friends joined us. This time the highs were only in the 80s and the humidity was low, at least for August, so we had a very nice time indeed. The Chief had to stay and accompany the window installers while I played tour guide for our friends, but we didn't leave him alone all that long. In fact, we managed to time our return so that we got back barely half an hour after the installers left.
Here we'd been trying for years to get people to visit us and they all arrived practically at once! That's OK, though; we're glad they made it.
Monday, August 15, 2011
My sentiments exactly!
First this: http://xkcd.com/931/ (given how Mom went, 6 months after a clean bill of health from her oncologist)
followed by this: http://xkcd.com/933/
followed by this: http://xkcd.com/933/
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